Baseball Quiz: 1) Entering this year, what active player had
the most career RBI? 2) Also, what active pitcher had the most
career losses? Answers below.
Danny Biasone
Born in Sicily, Danny Biasone emigrated to the U.S. in 1918 at
age 10 and by 1946 he owned a bowling alley and liquor store in
Syracuse, New York. It was then that he purchased a National
Basketball League franchise for $1,000 (later to be integrated
into the National Basketball Association).
By 1950, the caliber of play in the NBA was such that the
commissioner at the time, Maurice Podoloff, said, “The games
were interminable.” [You could make the same comment about
today”s games!] The teams slowed down play to the point that
one game was 19-18.
At the end of the 1953-54 season, the future of the NBA was in
serious doubt. The biggest star, George Mikan, had retired. The
league had gone from 17 franchises 4 years earlier to 9 (and soon
to be 8).
Enter Biasone. Danny was a great team owner. His wife cooked
for the players and they all hung out at the bowling alley (this
was before cable, mind you). But he was discouraged to see
what was happening with the game.
“So I went to those fellas in the league and said I”m having a
tough time selling something here. There”s one thing basketball
needs, I said. It needs a time. I don”t care what the time is. Put
in a time!”
And so it was that Biasone won over the other owners and played
a test game with Dolph Schayes and local players. He tried out a
system whereby a team had 24 seconds to shoot with each
possession. When there was five seconds left, Biasone would
yell at the players. The league went with the idea and scoring
soared. [From the top three scoring teams in the league
averaging in the 80s (with the rest in the 70s) for the 1953-54
season, to the next season where 93.1 was the scoring avg. for
the league.]
Former Commissioner Podoloff remarked, “The adoption of the
clock was the most important event in the N.B.A. and Danny
Biasone is the most important man in the N.B.A.”
In 1963, Biasone sold the Syracuse Nationals to a group of Philly
businessmen for $500,000. [Nice little return on investment!]
He then ran the bowling alley until his death 30 years later.
Today, there is a strong movement to place Biasone in the
Basketball Hall of Fame.
And why 24 seconds? “I figured we were averaging about 60
shots a game per team,” Biasone said. “If each team used up 24
seconds for a shot, they would average 60 shots. But the exact
number wasn”t important. My idea was to keep the game going,
to speed it up.”
[Source: Charles Paikert / New York Times]
The Porcupine
Oh, it”s been awhile since we probed Len McDougall”s classic,
“The Complete Tracker.” So I thought it was appropriate to see
what McDougall had to say about the porcupine (Erethizon
Dorsatum – “He who rises in anger” – an allusion to the animal”s
nearly ideal defense against predators).
Porcupines have about 30,000 spiked quills, 1 to 3 inches long,
covered with microscopic barbs. Porky”s can move at only 3 to 4
mph but “woe to the carnivore who thinks that it can kill this 8-
to-40-pound herbivore with a bite to the spine or neck.”
McDougall explains that despite the myths, porcupines cannot
throw their quills, but they can detach them from the skin
voluntarily as needed. When attacked, they hunch low and keep
their back arched to the attacker, not out of cowardice, but to
keep its heavily armed tail in an assailant”s face. When the
attacker lunges forward, it”s met by a hard slap and a face full of
quills.
McDougall writes, “Once embedded, the hollow, airtight quills
expand from the victim”s own body heat, causing the barbs to dig
in more firmly. The immediate result is intense pain, followed
by a throbbing swelling. An unlucky carnivore with mouth and
tongue bristling with porcupine quills will die slowly from
infection and starvation. From my own observations the quills
are pushed inward as the frantic animal tries to scrape them off
against trees and the ground.” [Maybe some day we will put
together an official StocksandNews nature tour with Trapper
Len. I have to come up with a release form, however.]
So porcupines have defense mechanisms but they can be
defeated. The best porky hunter is the fisher, an 18-pound forest-
dwelling weasel that has become scarce. The fisher is artful at
knocking the porcupine on its back and then, Wham! No more
porky.
Porcupines like varnishes and will eat corners of wood-sided
buildings, ergo, check your insurance policies. They are strictly
nocturnal and, because of their primitive brain, they live most of
their life in complete silence.
McDougall informs us that porky flesh is “rich and strong
tasting, with a faint fishy smell.” I would recommend a Czech
beer with it.
Vic Damone
Born Vito Farinola in Brooklyn, 1928, Damone is one of the
leading ballad singers of all time. He will be launching a
yearlong retirement tour this month that will end up next May in
Carnegie Hall.
Damone once asked Sinatra after his second “retirement” if he
could borrow some of his arrangements. Sinatra asked Vic what
album he liked best to which Damone replied “Nice and Easy.”
“Frank always had to have the last word, to be in control,” Vic
recalled. “He said, ”I”ll give the arrangements to you – if I
choose the songs.” He then sent about 15.” The only other artist
Frank gave his arrangements to was Sammy Davis.
Damone commented on the current music scene. “Great popular
songs bring back nostalgic moments for people my age. I feel
sorry for the kids. What are they going to listen to when they”re
older?” [Vic did have one Billboard Top Ten, “On The Street
Where You Live” (My Fair Lady) which hit #4 in 1956.]
[Source: Mary Campbell / AP]
Disease-Fighting
There is an interesting table in the May 22 issue of Newsweek
ranking the amount of National Institute of Health funding for
various diseases as well as the disability ranking. [The latter
takes into account the age of those affected by the disease,
degree of their disability and number of deaths.]
So in 1999, AIDS took in $1.8 billion in NIH funding but has a
disability ranking of 15, while heart disease received only $270
million and has a #1 ranking. Breast cancer received the second
most NIH funds, $475 million, and has a ranking of 14. Others
of note, Stroke ($186 mm – #4), Prostate cancer ($178 mm –
#19), and Lung cancer ($163 mm – #6).
This all came about because of Michael J. Fox”s efforts to raise
awareness of Parkinson”s disease ($132 mm – #21). I also want
to add that I”m not knocking the funding for AIDS. The increase
has helped lead to the development of breakthrough drugs. Just
too bad we can”t have similar funding of other diseases as well.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/17/69: #1 “Aquarius / Let The
Sunshine In” (The 5th Dimension) #2 “Hair” (The Cowsills)
#3 “Get Back” (The Beatles).
Ray Floyd
A few months ago, I had a comment from golfer Tom Weiskopf
complaining about the mood on the senior golf tour. This month,
Floyd makes a similar comment in the June issue of Golf Digest.
Q: “How”s life on the senior tour?”
Floyd: “The caliber of play is terrific. I wish more guys had fun,
though. Some guys should appreciate what they”ve got more,
and complain less. To be honest, I”m disappointed. I laughed
more on the regular tour. Talk about grumpy old men.”
Quiz Answers: 1) Harold Baines, 1583 (Cal Ripken, 1571).
2) Mike Morgan, hideous career mark of 134-180. A sad
commentary on the state of pitching today.
Next Bar Chat, Monday…a hero of World War II.
